The Princess and the Human

Kykla's room was silent, except for the dull hum the ship constantly produced. During her first few times in space, she had found the noise incredibly annoying as it gave her many sleepless nights. Nowadays she was used to it. Not only that, the monotonous sound was actually quite relaxing now.

However, that didn't change the fact that this was a problem that, had she been born a few generations prior, she wouldn't even have had in the first place. Larger ships had rooms that were far enough away from the engines to be completely silent. Kykla had seen the records of the vessels they used to have, not only from their large navy - which was almost entirely sold or scrapped by now - but also ships like the luxurious Grace or colossal Glory, the latter basically being a mobile space station. But that was the past now. The vehicle she was in, the Cyto, was as small as an embassy ship could be without being a complete embarrassment. And even that was done through ruses. In order to afford to make it this big, tricks were pulled, and corners were cut. Like the fact that only around 20% of the ship was actually accessible. Most of the rooms were behind doors that couldn't be opened, had no wiring or life support systems, and served no other purpose than making the ship appear bigger. Well, technically they also served as a buffer zone for small collisions.

On top of that, many normal features had been forgone, as long as they weren't important for safety. Like internal speakers, which had been left out entirely, or the inner doors, which all opened manually. Every reasonable step to reduce construction and maintenance costs as much as possible was taken. The Cyto was the literal definition of looks over usefulness.

The Tystrie matriarch was lying on her bed, arms raised upward in prayer. According to the historical records, this had actually been quite a predicament in the early days of space travel. The teachings dictated that one needed to point their arms up during prayer, on paper a very simple rule. Until you are in space and there no longer is a clear "up". At first, their early astronauts positioned themselves relative to the planet, but that became increasingly difficult with further away missions, and downright impossible when traveling through the hyperlanes. It was only during the advent of artificial gravity that their scholars found a solution. They declared that since the goddess was not "above" them in a geographical sense, the gesture was more symbolic and it sufficed to raise the arms toward wherever "up" relative to the current position was. After all, the concept wasn't really any different on the planet's surface.

As she finished her prayer, Kykla opened her eyes. Not that she hadn't had important missions before, but rarely had this much depended on it. With the Krsnelv halting the talks before they even occurred, this trade agreement needed to happen. Or at least something of similar value. And Kykla would see that it would, no matter what she had to do for it.

She sighed and let her arms fall down, the hands landing on the pillow next to her head, causing her earrings to chink. There were eleven of them in total, six on her right ear and five on the left. Absent-mindedly, she started to play with the lowest one on the right. It was by far the cheapest of the bunch, and also the oldest. It had been given to her by her first husband, Labro, during their wedding a long time ago. The two of them had known each other since early childhood. She still remembered the day he proposed to her. He had been so nervous that he had stumbled over his words many times over. Not that she had any intentions to refuse him. But Labro was not only her oldest husband, he was also the one she had her first daughter with. It was as if the goddess herself had wanted them to be together.

However, their time together was bound to come to an end. His life had been long, but he was still a male, and thus had a significantly shorter lifespan than her. That was just how it was. With another sigh, Kykla got up from her bed, opened the door, and left her cabin. Besides her, there were in total six more people on the ship: two pilots, three attendants, and her personal assistant and everyman, Qeylo. While looking like a small entourage from the outside, it was actually fairly excessive for their current circumstances. Had she been a male, she would've gotten one pilot and one attendant tops.

As she entered the bridge, everyone immediately turned towards her and bowed, which she patiently accepted before speaking.

"Status?"

"We are on schedule, Milady," one of the pilots answered. "About half a day left until we reach the jump point, and maybe two or three more after the hyperlane, depending on the current position of Hohmiy."

"Alright. Carry on then," Kykla said in a neutral tone and left. It was only after she had closed the door behind her that she allowed herself to scoff. Two days. Probably even less if their ship didn't have the cheapest engine and/or was more built for speed. The Vanaery's luck was truly ridiculous. It wasn't enough that their world gave them everything they could wish for, no, it was also almost directly next to a hyperlane entrance.

What a joke!

"Your Highness?"

Startled, Silgvani needed a moment to orient herself. She was sitting at her desk, apparently having dozed off for a moment. It was dark outside, though she didn't know for how long.

"If I may," the maid in front of her suggested, "maybe it is time to call it a day."

"Easy to say, but I still need to..."

She took a glance at her datapad. The text she had produced had so many typos that it was basically incomprehensible gibberish.

"Maybe you are right. I'll retreat to my room, you are dismissed."

With a bow, the maid left her alone. For a moment, Silgvani just sat there in silence, before standing up with a sigh. She clearly lacked the concentration to finish the draft for the contract, there was no point in wasting time on something she would have to redo tomorrow anyway.

Though not everything was as demanding as it could've been. As it turned out, many of the nutrients Nadine needed were rather easy to acquire since they actually found use on Hohmiy. Just not normally for consumption, but for metalworking.

Nadine...

The princess's thoughts once more trailed off towards the small alien. The doctor's latest report just wouldn't get out of her head. These "nightmares", as they apparently were called - how was one supposed to put up with getting tortured by their own brain? And according to the doctor, the report was very tame compared to Nadine's own description. What in the name of the First Ones had this sweet girl done to deserve this? Because of her experiences on the Star Treader? Sure, it was widely known that being in a life-or-death situation, let alone killing someone, was a strain on one's psyche, but this...

And then, there was of course her age. According to the report, humans were considered of age at eighteen of their years, translating to around 29 of Hohmiy's solar cycles, and fully mature by the time an average Vanary's life was already over. That one she had real trouble comprehending. Nadine had a lifetime's worth of experience but was only at the start of her life. However, it certainly explained why she acted immaturely sometimes and didn't ask for help regarding her problems. Then again, could they even help her? Her mind seemed to work vastly different than theirs.

Maybe she should try and talk to her? The doctor didn't have much success with that, but with the newest info, she couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

I wonder if she is still awake.

She decided to at least try and made her way to the east wing. This late, the palace had become fairly silent, for obvious reasons. Even more so in the east wing, since Nadine was currently the only resident there, and as such, not many servants were assigned to this area.

As she reached the door Silgvani raised her hand to knock, but a dull thunk from inside the room made her startle.

"Nadine?"

Another impact. Not bothering to knock, the princess quickly opened the door. Inside the room, barely illuminated by the light of the stars, she could see the alien girl lying in her bed. Except that she wasn't merely "lying" there. She was frantically rolling and thrashing around, throwing kicks and punches in every direction. Whenever she hit the bed instead of the air, the mattress was shaking wildly, making it clear how deadly those attacks were. On paper, it was more or less what Kiyrtin had described. In reality, witnessing it for herself was an absolutely terrifying sight.

"Nadine!" the princess shouted as she turned on the light. "Nadine, wake up!"

The alien girl shot up into a sitting position, eyes frantically darting left and right, trying to orient herself. Finally, she seemed to have a grasp on reality again, fixating her gaze on Silgvani while panting heavily. On top of that, she seemed to be drenched in some liquid, her hair sticking to her face. Slowly, she crawled to the edge of her bed, where the princess awaited her.

"Just now... you had a "nightmare", right?"

Nadine, now sitting on her knees at the edge of the mattress, said some words Silgvani didn't understand. Right, she wasn't wearing her translator.

Should I get it for her?

She glanced at the desk where the collar was, then back at Nadine, who was looking up at her with wet eyes, still panting. Silgvani wasn't very good at reading her expressions yet, but it was clear to her that the girl, the seemingly frail alien who just a bit earlier could've accidentally killed her had she stepped too close, was terribly frightened. Even though every instinct, every fiber of her body screamed at her not to do it, to get away, the princess wrapped all four arms around the small alien and pulled her into a tight embrace.

For a moment, Nadine didn't react. Then she seemingly lost all strength and slumped forward, which Silgvani only barely managed to stop. The alien girl then closed her eyes and started to make some strange sounds, while liquid started to run down her face. Silgvani didn't know what she was doing. She decided to simply let her while trying her best to balance her upright on her hip joints, knowing she could not hold her if she were to fall over. Sometimes, between the sounds, some more words in the alien's language were said.

She didn't know how much time passed. But at some point, the small alien became quiet. After being given a slight nudge, she fell backward onto the bed, now seemingly sleeping calmly.